kjflyfish
09-29-2007, 10:13 PM
Well, I'm back in Florida before my big move to New Zealand and me and my NC boys decided we needed one more trip. So Wahoo, SeaRen and I started planning for what appeared to be a weather window on the 22nd and 23rd. For once, the weather reports were pretty good and I made the drive up. Since this was my last dive trip in NC for a while to come, I’m giving the extra long version.
We loaded our gear into SeaRen's boat the night before with not a whisper of wind and tried to fight the excitement all night to get a few hours of sleep. We were greeted with slow rolling seas and cruised offshore.
Based on the last trip, (see "African Day" thread) I was expecting crappy vis and hard hunting conditions. To my relief, we had a hazy top-to-bottom in every spot. Immediately after splashing, we started seeing African pompano. Wahoo busted one soon after and I escorted the struggling pompano back to the boat as two sizable duskys came swooping in with hopes for a free meal. I hung down around the pomp while watching the sharks fade in and out. They took heed and stayed away.
Moments later I see a school of APs and dive down to intercept. I took a shot and the fish took off, peeling line off my reel. I fought hard to get the fish up and got a hold of the shaft. Just as I was going for the tail grab, the fish jerked wildly and tore off of the shaft. Thanks to the buddy system, Wahoo saw the whole thing and promptly made chase and put a second shot in the AP. Two in the boat.
While at the first spot, we were greeted by one of the most incredible ocean creatures I’ve seen in the water – a great hammerhead shark. He was slow and methodical, coming in relatively close to investigate, but keeping a respectable distance. I was fortunate enough to see him twice and got to observe his awesome movements and that juxtaposed eye looking right at me.
We decided to move on in search of grouper and hogs. Our next stop was a series of sparse, but big rock structures. As we made our way along the formation, the relief built up to over 10 feet with plenty of overhangs and cracks. As I was coming up from a dive, I spotted a nice hogfish cruising just a short distance away. I started pointing and Wahoo was already on it, diving down. He made a solid shot, but the fish started going nuts and wrapped the shooting line around a rock. This got the attention of a 6-7 foot taxman. SeaRen was able to get the shooting line untangled a good bit and Wahoo did a little more pulling and the hog came loose. The shark made a few passes, but he was obviously scared of us landlubbers.
Later on, I was investigating a nice crack and turned up to see an easy 25lb gag already cruising away in the sand. Just behind him was a solid 15 pounder fading away. To my amazement, there was still a nice grouper staring me down at the entrance to a deep crack. In front of him was a spottail pinfish who gave me a great cover to get closer. Just as the pinfish moved out of the way, the grouper turned and I blasted him. He went crazy and swam a loop around a rock underneath the ledge. I made my way back to the surface to prepare for retrieval. Wahoo went down to try and untangle the line and came back with a report of three sharks all looking for my grouper. I was breathing up as SeaRen went down and got the shooting line free and started swimming up with my fish in tow. I met him and grabbed my fish and started for the boat. We all got in and watched the sharks as they swam up to the transom following the trail of blood.
The next stop was an incredible rocky formation with overhangs, ledges, cracks, and all sorts of other structure. The AJs were thick and followed us around everywhere we went. There were dives where I couldn’t see beyond the hundreds of AJs just in front of my face. I made a dive and was looking for grouper under a huge overhang when I looked out towards the sand and saw a big alpha male hogfish heading directly at me. I just froze on the bottom and waited for him to turn. He just kept coming and coming and I decided to take the shot. Bam! Stoned! He was a beautiful specimen with that incredible rooster-like dorsal.
As I was in the boat putting the hogfish on ice, I see my buddy Pete fighting with a huge thrashing fish. As it turned out, the sight of big AJs all around was just too much for him to handle and he took a fine specimen. The shot seemed perfect, but the fish had plenty of juice left and gave Pete quite the fight.
As we were making our way along this “double ledge”, I noticed a big dusky swimming in to my left and then saw Wahoo coming up from a dive. The two were on a collision course! Just before running right into the belly of the beast, Wahoo looked up and flinched, which sent the shark directly at me. I gave it a solid jab in the side and he took off licking his wound. It was a bit hairy, but made me smile anyway.
We were able to get a few more grouper on some beautiful bottom before heading back to the AP grounds to give it one more shot. We were seeing fish immediately as we drifted the area and Pete locked in and dove on a school. He let the steel fly and had a great fight, landing his first African pompano.
We headed home in smooth seas and a full cooler.
Part two to come.
We loaded our gear into SeaRen's boat the night before with not a whisper of wind and tried to fight the excitement all night to get a few hours of sleep. We were greeted with slow rolling seas and cruised offshore.
Based on the last trip, (see "African Day" thread) I was expecting crappy vis and hard hunting conditions. To my relief, we had a hazy top-to-bottom in every spot. Immediately after splashing, we started seeing African pompano. Wahoo busted one soon after and I escorted the struggling pompano back to the boat as two sizable duskys came swooping in with hopes for a free meal. I hung down around the pomp while watching the sharks fade in and out. They took heed and stayed away.
Moments later I see a school of APs and dive down to intercept. I took a shot and the fish took off, peeling line off my reel. I fought hard to get the fish up and got a hold of the shaft. Just as I was going for the tail grab, the fish jerked wildly and tore off of the shaft. Thanks to the buddy system, Wahoo saw the whole thing and promptly made chase and put a second shot in the AP. Two in the boat.
While at the first spot, we were greeted by one of the most incredible ocean creatures I’ve seen in the water – a great hammerhead shark. He was slow and methodical, coming in relatively close to investigate, but keeping a respectable distance. I was fortunate enough to see him twice and got to observe his awesome movements and that juxtaposed eye looking right at me.
We decided to move on in search of grouper and hogs. Our next stop was a series of sparse, but big rock structures. As we made our way along the formation, the relief built up to over 10 feet with plenty of overhangs and cracks. As I was coming up from a dive, I spotted a nice hogfish cruising just a short distance away. I started pointing and Wahoo was already on it, diving down. He made a solid shot, but the fish started going nuts and wrapped the shooting line around a rock. This got the attention of a 6-7 foot taxman. SeaRen was able to get the shooting line untangled a good bit and Wahoo did a little more pulling and the hog came loose. The shark made a few passes, but he was obviously scared of us landlubbers.
Later on, I was investigating a nice crack and turned up to see an easy 25lb gag already cruising away in the sand. Just behind him was a solid 15 pounder fading away. To my amazement, there was still a nice grouper staring me down at the entrance to a deep crack. In front of him was a spottail pinfish who gave me a great cover to get closer. Just as the pinfish moved out of the way, the grouper turned and I blasted him. He went crazy and swam a loop around a rock underneath the ledge. I made my way back to the surface to prepare for retrieval. Wahoo went down to try and untangle the line and came back with a report of three sharks all looking for my grouper. I was breathing up as SeaRen went down and got the shooting line free and started swimming up with my fish in tow. I met him and grabbed my fish and started for the boat. We all got in and watched the sharks as they swam up to the transom following the trail of blood.
The next stop was an incredible rocky formation with overhangs, ledges, cracks, and all sorts of other structure. The AJs were thick and followed us around everywhere we went. There were dives where I couldn’t see beyond the hundreds of AJs just in front of my face. I made a dive and was looking for grouper under a huge overhang when I looked out towards the sand and saw a big alpha male hogfish heading directly at me. I just froze on the bottom and waited for him to turn. He just kept coming and coming and I decided to take the shot. Bam! Stoned! He was a beautiful specimen with that incredible rooster-like dorsal.
As I was in the boat putting the hogfish on ice, I see my buddy Pete fighting with a huge thrashing fish. As it turned out, the sight of big AJs all around was just too much for him to handle and he took a fine specimen. The shot seemed perfect, but the fish had plenty of juice left and gave Pete quite the fight.
As we were making our way along this “double ledge”, I noticed a big dusky swimming in to my left and then saw Wahoo coming up from a dive. The two were on a collision course! Just before running right into the belly of the beast, Wahoo looked up and flinched, which sent the shark directly at me. I gave it a solid jab in the side and he took off licking his wound. It was a bit hairy, but made me smile anyway.
We were able to get a few more grouper on some beautiful bottom before heading back to the AP grounds to give it one more shot. We were seeing fish immediately as we drifted the area and Pete locked in and dove on a school. He let the steel fly and had a great fight, landing his first African pompano.
We headed home in smooth seas and a full cooler.
Part two to come.